Star Wars Silver Screen Theatrical Version: A Fan Restoration Leaked

A New Hope Awards

EW had a report yesterday on the new Star Wars “Silver Screen Theatrical Version” that was recently leaked on the internet. The Silver Screen edition is a fan created project that spent thousands of dollars meticulously restoring the original 1977 version of Star Wars.

 

This version, while not flawless, is apparently the best to date available version of the original film for those who wish to see the movie without any of the subsequent changes that Lucas has made on an ongoing basis over the last 30 years. It was put together by a group of fans calling themselves Team Negative1 at their own expense.  So, if you are one of those who scream “Han Shot First” at the top of your lungs while muting your TV as Kenobi makes his Krayt Dragon call, this might be the edition for you.

 

Han Shoots First

 

Since the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney there have been rumors of a possible restored release of the original trilogy in their original form, but so far that has stayed only a rumor. So, while these are not officially released anywhere, if you are desperate to drop the SE from your Star Wars experience it might be worth seeking out.

 

In addition to the EW story above, Movie Mezzanine did a lengthy interview with the fan who led this project. That can be found here.

 

 

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114 thoughts on “Star Wars Silver Screen Theatrical Version: A Fan Restoration Leaked

  • February 17, 2016 at 4:37 pm
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    I prefer the Despecialized Edition. Harmy painstakingly color-corrected and degrained/denoised the whole thing frame by frame. Team Negative1’s work is also impressive, and I believe Harmy incorporated their work where appropriate. If they clean it up it could surpass Harmy’s, IMO.

    • February 17, 2016 at 4:48 pm
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      I’ve seen Harmy’s Despecialized Editions of all three movies. They’re great! (not perfect) I’ll have to check this Negative1 version out.

      One thing I’m looking for that Harmy’s DE of Star Wars left out is that stormtrooper “Close the blast doors…Open the Blast Doors!” joke. I was sad when I didn’t hear that. Harmy says that it wasn’t in the original release…but I’ve read that it depended on which Audio version you were seeing Mono or Stereo. Oh well. A small gripe.

      • February 17, 2016 at 6:19 pm
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        He has both audio tracks on the 20GB version.

        • February 17, 2016 at 6:22 pm
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          Nice! I’ll have to watch the latest version!

          • February 17, 2016 at 7:37 pm
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            Yep. He has EVERY known audio track, IIRC. So you can listen in Mono, Stereo, Dolby Stereo, or any of a number of language dubs. It’s fantastic.

          • February 17, 2016 at 9:51 pm
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            The real noteworthy differences that I can remember include different recordings of the Beru dialogue and an alternate computer voiceover on the Death Star.

    • February 17, 2016 at 6:57 pm
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      The Despecialized Edition is my preferred way to watch the OT. Amazing quality and work by Harmy.

    • February 18, 2016 at 2:17 am
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      Not with their home-made telecine setup, and not off release prints. The official masters were made from the negs, which will always have better fine detail than the release prints, and the scanners used for the ofifical master, depsite being antiquated by today’s standards, are still better than -1’s “consumer camera pointed at a frame advancing rig”. They’ve done a great job with what they’ve been given, but with their current setup it will never really surpass what Harmy’s been able to do.

  • February 17, 2016 at 4:52 pm
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    Hopefully this press will get Disney thinking about this again.

  • February 17, 2016 at 4:54 pm
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    If it’s restored, then where is the Chewie’s medal of honor? :]

  • February 17, 2016 at 5:16 pm
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    I heard about this at Original Trilogy boards and I will check it out. I only watch Harmy’s Despecialized Editions when watching OT and I am still waiting for ROTJ V.2. In any case, great job. Maybe one day Disney and Lucasfilm release the originals – unless Lucas made sure to include the ban in his contract.

    • February 17, 2016 at 6:11 pm
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      ROTJ v2.5 just came out. ESB is still v2.0 though.

      • February 17, 2016 at 6:19 pm
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        Thank you!

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:12 pm
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      Was just going to say – the Harmy stuff already pretty much accomplishes this, right?

      • February 17, 2016 at 7:39 pm
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        IMO, the Harmy stuff is better because he went one step farther by cleaning up the images so they look great in HD. And he also included every audio track you could ever want.

    • February 18, 2016 at 2:09 am
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      Mmmm….check again. Harmy just released RotJ 2.5 – it’s escaped into the wild and is all over the usual places now!

  • February 17, 2016 at 5:17 pm
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    now because I’ve always seen episode IV with the dewbacks, and the x-wings departuring from yavin, for some reason I never had too many problems with original/special edition difference. I’m curious to see one of these editions anyhow, even though I own the episode IV original in the 2005 release… and never had problem with audio or picture… but a HD original version might be interesting. How can i get the despecialised edition?

    • February 17, 2016 at 6:12 pm
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      The Jabba scene, though…and the Krayt dragon call…and the Han’s “force-dodge”…If Lucas kept to visual cleanup/updating, no one would have complained.

      • February 17, 2016 at 8:28 pm
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        HAn’s force dodge? Also, jabba scene just didn’t make sense with a human playing jabba. jabba is a hutt, not a human, so even if he’s working for jabba, it’s strange that he calls that guy with his master’s name. Also, I always found funny the “you’re a wonderful human being” seeing the hutt jabba… XD. Something that actually bothers me more than the mentioned scenes is the ‘meh’ CGI in Mos Eisley

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:30 pm
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          1. The force-dodge. Han slips to the left instantaneously to miss Greedo’s blaster bolt.
          2. That scene was cut from the original theatrical release because, indeed, they wanted a creature but didn’t have the budget for it and it is also completely unnecessary to the plot as everything we are told in that scene is already told in the Greedo scene. I like that “human being” line too in context of Jabba being not human, but the scene just shouldn’t be there at all, IMO.
          3. The Mos Eisley CGI is pretty bad, too. Agreed. There was some good CGI, though, so it’s not all bad.

          • February 17, 2016 at 9:57 pm
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            Ohh… that force didge must be something I missed along with greedo shooting first…

          • February 18, 2016 at 3:44 am
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            The Mos Eisley CGI was bad – not because it was pioneering, but because it changed Mos Eisley from a John Ford Western-frontier town that would logically have little Imperial presence where you could reliably find scummy pilots, to a metropolis that actually might house an established Imperial presence.

            I just don’t think its consistent – Mos Eisley works better as a backwater-frontier town. The edits made it into a bustling spaceport.

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:52 pm
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      I grew up watching the original version of SW on VHS with its vaseline blob landspeeder and tiny backwater town Mos Eisley and the muddy skies of Tatooine and cold-blooded Han. I loved that version of the movie… but now I’m more a fan of Star Wars because the story and mythos than of the actual individual films so watching the classic cut of ANH without all the moving dewbacks and crowded raucous streets of the spaceport and Jabba, it seems off to me. Yeah I guess I’m backwards in the head. I also loved every change that was made to ESB for the Special Edition and i much prefer it to the original movie with its closed-off Cloud City.

      • February 17, 2016 at 8:25 pm
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        So I’m not the only one!

      • February 17, 2016 at 9:47 pm
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        My thoughts exactly!

      • February 18, 2016 at 5:45 am
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        Ditto, though I’ve only ever seen the 2004 SE.

        • February 18, 2016 at 2:14 pm
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          2004 SE was superior to 1997 because Jabba looked much closer to proper for the character.

  • February 17, 2016 at 6:15 pm
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    I know it’s not the popular opinion, but I thought most of the special edition changes were good. I saw the theatrical cuts first, then the special edditions. Sure the anakin spirit is annoying and the “nooo” seems out of place. But aside from that most of changes work for me. I love the fixed scene with palpatine in empire, the original always looked silly to me. I’m glad people are passionate about it though, I’m just surprised people are that passionate to spend thousands of dollars / man-hours to get rid of some cgi add-ons. Maybe I’m just too leanint but except for that musical number in rotj and one or two other things- most of the changes are either good or so minor I don’t care.

    • February 17, 2016 at 6:19 pm
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      Most of the changes were fine, but the ones that aren’t are disastrously bad. The ROTJ musical number is probably the worst offender. But the added Jabba scene is pointless, Hayden’s force ghost is stupid and offensive to the original actor, changing Boba’s voice was also stupid and unnecessary and makes Boba less cool, Han doing a force-dodge looks silly, Vader’s NOOOOO! in ROTJ is laughably bad, Luke’s scream when falling in Cloud City is also laughably bad. The vast majority of the changes are either good or at least not bad, but those major ones I listed and a few others I forgot about are just inexcusable.

      • February 17, 2016 at 6:23 pm
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        Agreed. Mostly I just never understood people who were enraged about them making jabbas door bigger or some dumb minor changes. The ones you mentioned are more upsetting changes. For me an ideal world would be a blending of the special editions / despeicalized edditions. Keep the fixed palpatine, the color correction, the added establishing shots, the windows in cloud city, etc. restore the original force ghost, Han shooting first, Obi-Wan’s cry, etc.

        • February 17, 2016 at 7:45 pm
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          I think someone has done that, too. There’s the Re-specialized edition. I think that one takes Harmy’s and re-adds in the better changes, IIRC. I love Star Wars fans.

          EDIT: Actually I think the respecialized edition is just an HD version of the 1997 special edition. That sounds like a great project, though, and it probably wouldn’t even be that hard to do. Just take Harmy’s and add back in some of the stuff from the Blu-Ray.

          • February 18, 2016 at 1:54 am
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            Nope, Respecialized was a riff on Harmy’s. He also himself did a partially despecialized edition when he released his v1s.

        • February 18, 2016 at 1:53 am
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          What ‘fixed color correction’? The masters LFL made in ’97, and from which every release since has been struck from, are truly appalling. Blacks are so uniformly crushed, white’s so uniformly blown out that the bonus discs often have more detail in those areas despite being struck from the LD masters from the 80s, the film has an overall muddy, blue cast to it, the highlight cores of both lasers and lightsabers have been averaged away by Lowry’s automatic digital cleanup routines – in short, the films are an ugly, ugly mess now. As bad as the changes are, the colour may just be worse.

      • February 17, 2016 at 6:32 pm
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        Luke’s scream is no longer there.

        • February 17, 2016 at 7:45 pm
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          Yeah. Some of the changes he reverted in later releases, only to add worse ones (Vader’s NOOOO! for instance). I’m just glad he can’t touch them anymore. I forgot about Yub Nub, too. Williams’ new finale track is fine, but Yub Nub fit more with a ragtag group of rebels winning their biggest victory ever with the help of natives, IMO. The ending montage sequence doesn’t really make sense with the new canon, either, and distracts from the character group we really care about.

          • February 17, 2016 at 8:48 pm
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            “The ending montage sequence doesn’t really make sense with the new canon, either, and distracts from the character group we really care about”

            Yeah,that is really more fault of the new filmmakers than Lucas. They knew exactly what was already established canon; they knew that the latest versions of the OT are canon. If the transition from the end of ROTJ to what we have now in the new canon post-ROTJ (and TFA by extension) comes off as strange and iffy to you, then that’s really the fault of the new content’s creators. And if that’s the case, then they really should’ve gone about things a little bit different to make the transition seem more smooth and convincing when creating more material for the period after ROTJ. [also, keep in mind that for the longest time, GL said there was only going to be 6 Star Wars movies and that the saga, as far as the movies go, starts with the discovery of Anakin (and the twilight of the Republic by extension) and ends with the redemption of Anakin by way of his son (and the downfall of the Empire as well) and that’s it]

            I guess they should also take out the celebration at the end of ANH then because it doesn’t make sense since the Empire canonically has still not been totally defeated as this point (I’m being sarcastic of course but do you see just how similar this sounds to the comment you made? What you’ve stated would be something like what I have stated).

          • February 17, 2016 at 9:34 pm
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            The rebels themselves celebrating makes sense in ANH as it does in ROTJ. What doesn’t make sense is the entire galaxy just celebrating the overthrow of the Empire when really there was still an entire huge Imperial fleet and governors etc. everywhere. It just doesn’t make sense that the government would topple so soon after the Death Star was destroyed. A small intimate celebration on Endor just makes more sense.

          • February 17, 2016 at 10:04 pm
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            Like I said, GL only had the vision of ending the Star Wars saga at the end of ROTJ for the longest time (at elast up until the Disney sale) and making the implication of a finished point (in this case, the fall of the Empire, or at the very least, a signalization that it dealt an irreversible blow). What happened in the post-ROTJ EU is something completely different that he wasn’t going to adhere to (hence the various canon levels he implemented during his time as head of Lucasfilm).

            You’re entitled to your opinion but we’ll have to agree to disagree.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:48 pm
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            The government wasn’t toppled.

          • February 18, 2016 at 1:40 am
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            I know – crazy to think that the destruction of one single major center was supposed to wipe out a galaxy-spanning government. Oh, hi there, TFA,didn’t see you come in…

          • February 18, 2016 at 4:51 am
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            Can we assume that the Republic was wiped out, though? And it’s also not a fair comparison. The First Order destroyed the government seat along with the Republic fleet. The Rebels destroyed the Emperor. The governors and other warlords and admirals and fleet were still very much alive and kicking.

          • February 18, 2016 at 3:04 pm
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            I have no words.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:48 pm
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            The new canon has already addressed the SE endings. The dumb asses on Coruscant celebrating Palpatine’s demise were all trouble shot out of existence by a crack down of Imperial Stormtroopers.

            The war went on for another year after Endor, and it’s being detailed in new media as we speak.

            Stop complaining.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:52 pm
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            I’m not the one complaining (I’m fine with how the ending of ROTJ is like). I’m on your side; I was merely responding to someone with a different opinion.

          • February 19, 2016 at 12:21 am
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            Apologies, then.

      • February 17, 2016 at 6:33 pm
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        There is one change that I remember thinking “Oh, cool!” when I watched ESB in ’97. That was when Wedge is circling the AT-AT you could now see the tow cable unraveling behind his speeder…

        But seriously, I can watch 19 different versions of Blade Runner…but I can’t watch the original version of one of the most important movies ever…arguably THE most important. It’s rediculous.

  • February 17, 2016 at 6:24 pm
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    Whoa whoa WHOA – does this mean we don’t get that horrifically out of place scene with CG Jabba and 4th wall breaking Boba? That’s what tied the whole trilogy together. Pandemonium, I tell you! Pandemonium!!!!

    Oh, wait, this has been done before? . . . . . . . . . carry on.

    • February 17, 2016 at 6:38 pm
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      Yes, your comment has been done before… Millions of times. Please carry on.

      • February 17, 2016 at 8:09 pm
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        Man, I thought Obi-Wan’s ghost would be a touch more convivial. But disembodiment likely is a fairly dreadful existence. I’d be a bit punchy too I suppose. Another childhood illusion dashed. Have fun startling small children 🙂

  • February 17, 2016 at 6:54 pm
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    Let’s be honest, article, if you ARE one of those who scream “Han Shot First” at the top of your lungs while muting your TV as Kenobi makes his Krayt Dragon call, you need to grow the fuck up a little bit. Sure they’re dumb changes, but there are adults that actually do that and they shouldn’t be called “adults”.

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:03 pm
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      Thank you for questioning my mental acuity and ability to reason. I should not be considered an “adult” simply because I am passionate about Star Wars and despise the ridiculous changes that Lucas made to the Original Trilogy. Thank you for putting me in my place, and making me realize my opinion is not welcome on this Internet forum. I will humbly withdraw from these proceedings, and no longer express my opinion about Star Wars. Whether public or private.

      • February 17, 2016 at 7:09 pm
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        This is not a website for passionate Star Wars fans.
        We don’t serve your kind here.

        • February 17, 2016 at 7:17 pm
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          I’ll wait outside. I don’t want to cause any trouble.

          • February 17, 2016 at 7:57 pm
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            Don’t worry, in the altered version we do serve your kind. Unless you make a Krayt call.

      • February 17, 2016 at 8:24 pm
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        Stating criticisms in a constructive manner is one thing. Going on rants and sounding like a child throwing temper tantrums because you aren’t getting your way and/or making desperately ridiculous and idiotic statements like “GL ruined/raped/destroyed my childhood” is another thing.

        Furthermore, it’s looking less and less likely that the restored, unaltered OT will be released in the future by Disney and/or FOX. It’s been 19 years since the SE’s came out (1997). Back in 1997, it had been 20 years since ANH had been released. So, what I’m trying to say is that the former’s length of time will almost be the same as the latter’s length of time. That’s enough time passed to essentially move on by now (so it’s best to give it up now or resort to fan-made cuts if you really want to). Now, one can make the argument that Disney and/or FOX can make bank if one or both (via a partnership) do end up releasing the restored, unaltered OT. However, I feel like they really don’t have much of an incentive to do so as 1) blu-ray sales of the entire saga (including the OT) have been going well around the world (seriously, go check up statistics on sale numbers, and not just the blu-ray but also digital releases and DVD sales; why change the strategy when something is already working well just because a loud and vocal minority says they want something different?) and 2) like I said earlier, it’s going to be 20 years since the release of the SE’s; at this point it’s like beating a dead horse (so one might as well drop it, get over it, and move on, or resort to fan-made OT edits like I stated earlier).

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:40 pm
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          Think you’re wrong there. The masters were done in 1080p, not even 2k. The SE work was all done at 1080p, again, not even 2k. If Disney wants to sell SW home video on any future formats they’re going to have to create new masters. The easiest way to do that is just scan the (despite what Lucas claims) still existing negs, restore them, and call it a day.

      • February 18, 2016 at 3:05 am
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        Dude, there’s a difference between “having an opinion” and “legitimately acting like a child about the edits made”. You can hate them as much as you want, but as soon as you pull a “LALALA NOT LISTENING”, you’re having a tantrum.

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:45 pm
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      Greedo shot first.

      • February 17, 2016 at 10:34 pm
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        For the last time. Han DID NOT SHOOT FIRST. He is the ONLY ONE WHO SHOT.

        🙂

        • February 17, 2016 at 10:40 pm
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          EXACTLY! The dumbest meme ever created in the Star Wars fandom… for someone to “shoot first,” someone had to have shot second. HAN SHOT. GREEDO DIED. Period. Exclamation point. Dots.

        • February 18, 2016 at 1:09 am
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          Technically speaking, being the first and only one to shoot is still first…

  • February 17, 2016 at 7:02 pm
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    I want a TFA fan-restored version

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:44 pm
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      Why? I liked the original just fine. The only thing I would change is Snoke mentioning (spoiling) Han Solo too early in the movie.

      • February 17, 2016 at 8:45 pm
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        Yea they should really edit that out..casual conversation wasn’t the best way to reveal that twist for me at least.

        • February 17, 2016 at 8:55 pm
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          Wow I think it worked really well the way it was done. I think by introducing it earlier it made Han’s death feel more impactful and I’m really happy it wasn’t made out to be a huge twist in the end

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:05 pm
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          I think the age of dramatic Star Wars “twists” (ex: “I am your father”) is long gone by now. People aren’t really expecting to be totally surprised nowadays (case in point, look at the number of theories people are making. Click-bait article after click-bait article, people are coming up with theories about Snoke, Rey, etc., ranging from well-thought-out to ridiculous, though mostly the latter). So yeah, it’s a moot point at this juncture of the franchise. At the very least, people are expecting the unexpected; yeah, there will probably be reveals in VIII and/or IX, some that might or not surprise us, but that’s the thing, people are expecting reveals to happen (and thanks to the Internet, we now know all the different types of possibilities).

          We’re living in different times now folks; expect new ways of storytelling and plot-creating.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:39 pm
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            Sad but true

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:40 pm
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          I know why they did it, because of casual audience. To me it was an insult to intelligence. People can figure out that on their own, they have their brains so let them use it.

          • February 17, 2016 at 9:47 pm
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            We’re living in different times now. People are different now compared to many years ago. Today youth and Millennials in general are of the type that have shorter attention spans, a sense of instant gratification, a lack of common sense (common sense isn’t common sense anymore apparently), etc. Also, don’t forget that styles and tastes are different now than in the late 70’s/early 80’s (these things change/evolve). Whether you like it or now, that’s the way the world has become now and people and their behaviors and styles will change again 20 years from now.

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:54 pm
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          Actually, that was due to an editing decision. Kylo Ren’s discussion with the Vader mask was supposed to take place earlier in the film, before the Snoke scene, so when he calls him “Grandfather,” you were left wondering if he was Luke or Leia’s son.

          The Snoke scene was supposed to reveal that Kylo was the son of Han and Leia.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:42 pm
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            See that I can live with..would’ve kept the audience on the edge of their seats and then BAM lol

          • February 18, 2016 at 12:24 am
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            It wasn’t needed at all. Everything was said and done on Starkiller scene. That is how it should have been and it would make already shocking scene even more impactful. Everything would click in the right place.

    • February 17, 2016 at 7:44 pm
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      me too. I’m sure a bunch of fans will make their own versions of it with the deleted scenes added into the movie and I’m looking forward to watching TFA in its completed form then.

      • February 17, 2016 at 9:22 pm
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        All I want is the Fox logo grafted onto the front.

        • February 17, 2016 at 9:52 pm
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          Amen! I don’t care what anyone says. The opening just felt wrong without it. The 20th Century Fox logo is the ultimate bit of foreplay before a new Star Wars movie.

          • February 17, 2016 at 11:54 pm
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            All they had to do was make Williams compose a new fanfare for the Lucasfilm logo..it being just silent to then transition to “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..” Was kinda ehh..

          • February 20, 2016 at 12:02 am
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            You know, I believe I’d STILL want the Fox fanfare to replace whatever he came up with. It’s been an integral part of the experience for me since ’78 when I first saw SW in re-release.

      • February 18, 2016 at 12:45 pm
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        And the 20th Century Fox intro 🙂

  • February 17, 2016 at 8:45 pm
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    I thought Harmy did this years ago.

    • February 17, 2016 at 9:01 pm
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      They did, and the Harmy versions look amazing. Can anyone confirm how this would differ from the Harmy versions?

      • February 17, 2016 at 9:21 pm
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        Yes, -1 built a home-made film scanner and created this by scanning a number of low-fade release prints, then did some minimal clean up and stabilization. It does not have the resolution of the BD, however is a very nice copy with fairly true colour. Harmy used a number of shots provided by -1 in his restorations, but he mostly used the BD source for the basic video. I still prefer Harmy’s work though he is limited in some ways by the shit job that was done on the masters.

    • February 17, 2016 at 9:25 pm
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      Well, he did his v1’s years ago…he’s ever-improving them and we’re now up to v2.5 🙂

  • February 17, 2016 at 9:23 pm
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    “So, if you are one of those who scream “Han Shot First” at the top of your lungs…”
    ….you are an idiot that follows a crowd and who doesn’t understand that Han shot ONLY, not FIRST.

    • February 19, 2016 at 4:53 am
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      Or are you the idiot that doesn’t understand that “Only” and “first” are not mutually exclusive?

      Greedo has a blaster pointed at Han, he intends to kill him.
      Han has a blaster under the table aimed at Greedo.
      They are pointing blasters at each other.

      Han shoots first.
      QED

  • February 17, 2016 at 9:35 pm
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    I’m surprised that Harmy’s versions weren’t even mentioned in the article as if this one was something really new… They’re great versions… I’m also surprised that there are “fans” of the original theatrical version that didn’t even bother to google for a possible unaltered version available… Seriously, fans?

    • February 17, 2016 at 10:07 pm
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      Again, this is ‘new’ because it’s a scan of several original release prints, not an attempt to correct the BDs. This is a proper restoration attempt of the film elements. Harmy’s is still my goto (and he just released RotJ 2.5!!!!!)

  • February 17, 2016 at 9:36 pm
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    The only change in the SE versions that I think was for the better was the Wampa cave scene in ESB. The SE version seemed to flow better and actually made the scene scarier. Aside from cleaning up the space battle scenes, IE: In original attack on the death star, getting rid of the dull black box around the tie fighters, I didn’t care for any of the SE changes.

    • February 17, 2016 at 10:06 pm
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      Disagree if for no other reason than pacing – the SE versions brings the flow of that sequence to a screeching halt every time they cut away to the new wampa.

      • February 18, 2016 at 5:38 am
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        True. Ideally, I would find a way to a better-paced mix of the two. The original one feels cheap to me nowadays, just because nowadays we would see the Wampa instead of only getting a couple shots of a puppet.

    • February 17, 2016 at 11:36 pm
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      Imo the new ending in ROTJ is also better. Victory theme from John Williams is one of the greatest soundtrack of the franchise imo.
      Just change back Hayden C. to Sebastian Shaw. It makes no sense that he is young again. It was in ROTJ where he was jedi again, so maybe an old version of Hayden C. would makes sense, but the young in way.

    • February 18, 2016 at 2:28 pm
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      I like the Falcon blasting out of Mos Eisley, the Biggs Darklighter scene, the wampa, the improved Cloud City shots, the new ROTJ end song, and the overall effects clean-up. An edition with just those changes would be perfect. 🙂

      • February 21, 2016 at 8:30 pm
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        I prefer Yub-Dub

  • February 17, 2016 at 11:58 pm
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    What about HARMY?

    • February 18, 2016 at 1:07 am
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      This is precisely what I was wondering. Are the two unrelated?

      • February 18, 2016 at 1:34 am
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        Yes, almost totally unrelated except that -1 supplied Harmy with some of his shots for v2.5. Different projects, different approaches, different goals.

  • February 18, 2016 at 1:37 am
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    My favorite though was the pic of Lucas wearing one. He is actually a very funny guy who trolls his fanbase HARD.

    • February 18, 2016 at 2:53 am
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      Gotta love the guy lol

  • February 18, 2016 at 2:59 am
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    Poor ROTJ as it was already the inferior one of the OT, then Lucas made it even worse.

    Jedi Rocks: that should have been a precursor to what was in store for the PT as this just takes you right out of the movie.

    Vader Nooooo!: This change is so useless as Lucas doesn’t trust his audience as sometimes no dialogue says more then dialogue that is spelled out.

    Hayden as a Force Ghost: THE worst change of all 3 movies. Old Force Ghost Kenobi must be pissed that Anakin comes back as a young Jedi?

    • February 18, 2016 at 3:35 am
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      You forgot the Little Shop of Sarlaac.

      • February 18, 2016 at 2:48 pm
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        You know, that’s the one addition I actually liked – unobtrusive, actually adds to the sequence by making the sarlaac an active threat, and it looks fine.

        • February 18, 2016 at 3:01 pm
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          Except when it doesn’t. But most of the time I guess it’s all right.

    • February 18, 2016 at 7:40 pm
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      That’s your personal point of view (a.k.a. your opinion).

      Furthermore, Millennials, particularly younger Millenials far removed from 1983, probably don’t care so much about the unaltered versions since they didn’t grow up with it (well, maybe except pretentious hipsters that are of the type that are into vinyl over CDs/digital music but those people are irrelevant anyway (couldn’t care less what they thought). Any viewing of the unaltered version would be mostly due to curiousity than anything else for the younger Millennials.

      I guess you missed GL’s and Dave Filoni’s explanation on the young Anakin force ghost. They have explained many times the rationality behind it and the retcon behind it and why some people want to go against the Maker’s/Creators mandate (after all, he created SW. He had the authority to make and modify the rules of the SW universe) is beyond me. Most young people from the younger generation don’t have a problem with it by the way (plus, who cares about some 10 seconds of screen time someone that not many, especially from casual moviegoers, really know about). Also, suspend your sense of disbelief at all times and stop trying to apply real-world logic all the time.

      • February 19, 2016 at 2:03 pm
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        So what you’re saying is that millennials really are clueless about just about everything, including Star Wars? Yes. They sure are.

        Lucas screwed up his originals. I don’t care if he created them and what clueless, entitled, pathetic, spoiled millennials think.

      • February 20, 2016 at 12:29 am
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        I’d consider myself a millennial, but not a younger millennial. I just have to disagree with you. I get that its GL’s thing, and he is welcome to make all of the Special Editions he wants. Its just a bummer that with how drastic some of the changes were, he weren’t somewhat more willing to produce both as nice DVDs. Like with Blade Runner, you can get a three movie set with all the different cuts of that movie.

        Also, If it were just Hayden Force Ghost, go for it, or Vader “nooo” whatever, I guess it doesn’t bother me that much, but do you really like “Jedi Rocks”? Even if you hadn’t seen the original ROTJ, it is so jarringly different, it just doesn’t make any sense.

        I don’t know, maybe you are right. My first experience with Star Wars was the “one last time” vhs release. If I had seen the special editions first, maybe I’d share your view. I doubt it, but maybe.

        • February 21, 2016 at 8:28 pm
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          I have to back you here – Jedi Rocks is the worst change to the entire original trilogy. I´m not talking about Boba popping up now from just every corner – this is truly a cartoon inserted inside a live action movie. I wouldn´t mind any change but this, this is……aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh

  • February 18, 2016 at 4:01 am
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    I’m waiting for Harmy’s V3.0 versions of the OT.

    • February 18, 2016 at 3:50 pm
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      Hey, thanks for sharing! Those are actually my own color adjustments of Harmy’s 2.5. But yes, he said he is going to stick with something more like that.

      • February 18, 2016 at 8:54 pm
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        Sorry about not giving credit for the image link I posted. Go to the originaltrilogy.com site and look in the discussions forums for the section called “Star Wars Preservations and Other Fan Projects” and look for the thread called “Harmy’s Despecialized Star Wars 1977 – Color Adjustment Project”. Great site to see all the various fan-edits that are being done.

        • February 18, 2016 at 10:18 pm
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          No worries, I am flattered.

  • February 18, 2016 at 4:16 am
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    Honestly. I think I’ll stick to Harmy’s Despecialized. The one thing I’m sad isn’t there is the part right before the battle where Biggs and Luke have their hanger scene. I can just fix that by popping in my DVD version right after they leave the Death Star :p

    • February 18, 2016 at 6:03 pm
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      I have that too, and it was the only dvd I watched when I had an old 3:4 tv. On a widescreen tv though, it has black bars on both the sides and the top and bottom, and the video is small. zooming in doesn’t help, because then the subtitles get missed. Its really a terrible way to enjoy a movie. I ended up just watching the special editions until I got copies of the despecialized edition by harmy.

      • February 20, 2016 at 12:00 am
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        On top of that, the brute-force temporal smoothing used to digitally ‘clean’ the movie causes smearing all throughout the films, and truly frightening, grotesque anomolies (check out “4-eyed stormtrooper” just for one example).

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